Rough times. So the marriage hadn’t been perfect after all. But what kind of rough times had Kate and Burke survived? What had given them the strength to move on together?

Now, with her secure world shattering around her and Burke demanding a divorce, Allison ached with the need to know.

Too restless to sleep, she flung back the covers and walked across the bedroom to the French doors that opened onto a small second-floor balcony. The damp night breeze stirred her hair as she leaned on the rail, gazing out across the lake toward the distant lights of the marina.

Burke still kept his boat there, stored in dry dock. Not once since his marriage to Allison had he even mentioned taking it out on the water. Allison had assumed he was too busy with work or had lost interest. But maybe his reasons went deeper than that. Maybe the vintage twenty-foot Cobalt 200 Bowrider held too many memories.

She had memories, too, Allison reminded herself. She’d been married at nineteen, to her high school sweetheart, a dazzling boy named Kevin who’d dreamed of becoming an actor. She’d followed him to Hollywood and waited tables to pay rent while he found an agent, landed occasional bit parts, and partied with friends she didn’t like or trust. The dream of stardom had ended after three years, when she’d lost him to a drug overdose. But before that, there’d been moments of sweet craziness when she’d almost believed things would work out for them.

Allison had picked up the pieces of her life and moved on. But she’d been wary of involvements with men—until, years later, Burke had walked into her little gift gallery, and the magic had happened.

Where was the magic now?

Had it ever been real? Or had it been that sweet, fleeting craziness all over again?

Shivering as the chill penetrated, Allison turned away from the railing and drifted back into the bedroom. Downstairs, Kate’s letters waited for her like a Pandora’s box that she feared to open. She had vowed not to touch them again. But what if Kate and Burke’s loving marriage held some insight into surviving this crisis and saving her own? How could she turn her back on that chance?

She would read one more letter—just one—tonight. After that, she would weigh the wisdom of reading the rest.

Decision made, she wrapped herself in the cashmere robe she’d given Burke, left the bedroom, and walked down the hallway to the stairs.

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

Allison switched on the desk lamp, settled into Burke’s chair, and opened the bottom left-hand file drawer. She wasn’t proud of herself for what she was about to do, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Was that true, or was she just rationalizing the urge to snoop?